Currently, the only known way of producing a floating soap is to inject air or a specific gas into a liquid or semi-solid soap mass and allowing solidification. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,295,594 and 3,835,580 describe the making of IVORY.TM. soap which is made by whipping air into a liquid soap mass which is poured into molds and allowed to solidify into a buoyant, rectangular or cubic product. The process for making IVORY.TM. soap is essentially a uniform and homogenous distribution of trapped air bubbles throughout the entire soap block by aeration through purely physical means.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,835,058 also describes the possibility of injecting a "compatible gas" which is not air into a liquid/semi-solid soap mass. Although not disclosed in the '058 patent, gas bubbles such as these could be introduced through a chemical reaction. Several problems are associated with such known floating soaps.
First, the relative low density of these soaps is the result of trapped air dispersed throughout the formed blocks. Such soap blocks do float but have weak consistency and structural matrix, and quickly dissolve away with wet use requiring replacement at a much higher frequency than conventional soap bars. Known processes necessarily require the use of expensive and labor intensive air injection equipment which results in excess expenditure. Such excess costs are passed onto the consumer through the necessity for replacement at higher frequencies relative to conventional solid soaps.
Floating soaps can be novelty items and a need exists in the art for a floating soap with greater emphasis on aesthetics. Gift and decorative soaps are commercially manufactured in a variety of aesthetically pleasing configurations. Known floating soaps cannot be made into such decorative or uniquely shaped bars having sharp edges and fine detail because the only conventional way of obtaining solid floating soaps from the bubbly, liquid precursor is to cast from the liquid/semi-solid state by pouring into molds. A need exists in the art for an extrudeable floating soap having fine detail and sharp edges. The present disclosure describes, inter alia, processes and formulations which provide a floating, decorative soap having fine details.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a solid, floating soap which has a formulation density greater than water or a liquid of like density, and which has an overall physical density less than water or a liquid of like density.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a solid, floating soap of a physical and structural integrity equal to solid conventional soaps which are not buoyant.
A further object of this invention is to provide solid, floating soaps of a physical and structural integrity capable of being shaped into aesthetically pleasing configurations.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a process for making a solid, buoyant soap having a formulation density greater than a liquid having a density substantially similar to water, and which has an overall structural density lighter than that of such a liquid.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a method of making a solid, floating soap having a hollow recess in which is disposed matter which is less dense than water which allows the resulting product to float, and which has physical and structural integrity capable of being shaped into aesthetically pleasing configurations.
These and other objects and advantages are achieved by the invention described below.